{"id":42807,"date":"2017-06-13T14:03:02","date_gmt":"2017-06-13T20:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=42807"},"modified":"2017-06-13T14:03:02","modified_gmt":"2017-06-13T20:03:02","slug":"in-the-berner-oberland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/06\/in-the-berner-oberland.html","title":{"rendered":"In the Berner Oberland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Never<\/a>
It was a bit cloudy from time to time up on the Schilthorn today \u2013of course, conditions there change minute by minute \u2014 but this is one of the shots that my wife took this afternoon with her cell phone.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The valleys of Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald sit nearby each other to the south of Interlaken, where I spent seven months of my mission.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know whether we of that era had much of an impact on Switzerland, but I can testify that Switzerland \u2014 and particularly this area, the Berner Oberland \u2014 had (and continues to have) an enormous impact on me<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Aussicht<\/a>
The Eiger, the M\u00f6nch, and the Jungfrau, as seen from M\u00e4nnlichen.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald valleys are dominated by a gigantic wall of mountains \u2014 ten kilometers across \u2014 including some of the biggest \u201cnorthern walls\u201d in the Alpine range. \u00a0The most famous of the peaks are, running from east to west, the Eiger (13,020 ft; 3,970 m), the M\u00f6nch (13,474 ft; 4,107 m) and the Jungfrau (13,642 ft; 4,158 m). \u00a0They\u2019re far and away not the tallest mountains on Earth, but they begin at low elevations and rise abruptly, dramatically, spectacularly, from the glacial valleys at their bases. \u00a0The Jungfrau, for instance, soars\u00a0more than three kilometers vertically above the floor of the Lauterbrunnen Valley (which sits at only 800 meters above sea level) within just four horizontal kilometers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Das<\/a>
Lauterbrunnen Valley, Switzerland\u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)
Probably my favorite place on Earth. \u00a0When I first saw it, I thought, \u201cThis is now Tolkien\u2019s Rivendell or Valley of Elrond, the home of the elves, must look.\u201d \u00a0It was only a few years ago that, reading something about Tolkien, I discovered that, as a matter of fact, he had patterned Rivendell on precisely this valley after a walking tour here. \u00a0I suspect, too, that Caradhras, one of the mightiest and most dangerous peaks in Tolkien\u2019s \u201cMisty Mountains,\u201d may have been inspired by the Jungfrau, or at least by one of the other mountains in the vicinity.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is especially visible from in or near the village of M\u00fcrren, which we visited today en route via cable car, to Birg and the top of the Schilthorn.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"M\u00fcrren<\/a>
In the foreground is the Berner Oberland village of M\u00fcrren. In the distant background, looking pyramidal from this angle, is the Eiger. The M\u00f6nch, a bit withdrawn between them, is not visible in this photo, but the base of the Jungfrau is, to the right. Between it and the village, out of sight far below, is the tiny hamlet of Stechelberg in the Lauterbrunnental or Lauterbrunnen Valley.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Eiger Nordwand \u2014 its famous \u201cNorth Face\u201d or, more literally from the German, its \u201cNorth Wall\u201d \u2014 has killed at least sixty-four experienced climbers since 1935. \u00a0Accordingly, in a German pun, it\u2019s sometimes called the \u201cMordwand,\u201d or \u201cMurder(ous) Wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/a>
One view of the Eiger Nordwand or \u201cMordwand\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain)
As I type, I\u2019m looking up at it from our balcony in Schwendi, Grindelwald.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Alps are fascinating to me in every way. \u00a0One of my resolutions is to learn more about their intriguing geology. \u00a0They seem to have begun forming, so far as I\u2019m aware, about three hundred million years ago, and \u2014 incredibly, but thanks to plate tectonics \u2014 they\u2019re composed of continental European rock at the base, African rock near the peaks, and, in between, Tethyan or oceanic materials.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

P.S. \u00a0One of my more remarkable experiences while serving as a missionary based in Interlaken was to have tracted out, and spent a couple of hours talking with, Norman Dyrhrenfurth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Grindelwald, Switzerland<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 The valleys of Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald sit nearby each other to the south of Interlaken, where I spent seven months of my mission. \u00a0 I don\u2019t know whether we of that era had much of an impact on Switzerland, but I can testify that Switzerland \u2014 and particularly this area, the Berner Oberland […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIn the Berner Oberland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    The valleys of Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald sit nearby each other to the south of Interlaken, where I spent seven months of my\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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